Whispers in the Dark
by GraniaMhaol
Summary: Elphaba's stream-of-consciousness from slightly before and up through the end of As Long As You're Mine. Fiyeraba.


**Elphaba **

His fingers clasped around my wrist are the only things keeping me upright, stumbling through the woods in the dark after him. I am sure that without that contact I'd fall, for all of the thoughts tangling my exhausted mind right now are making my heart pound and my breath catch. I am thankful, so thankful that he's still dragging me along, for if I _did_ fall, all those thoughts might catch up with me and I'm not entirely sure what would happen if they did, though I'm fairly sure that the most prominent possibility is that I'd just snap like a brittle twig. All of those years, running, running... Dr. Dillamond, the engagement party, Nessa, the Wizard's offer, the guards finally catching up with me... but that's not what is at the forefront of my mind. All those things are there, but the look on Glinda's face at Fiyero's declaration, and then him, just _him-- _these are the images that just keep reappearing, more frequently than the reset. I can't let them catch me-- the guilt over Glinda would surely kill me, and I've simply no idea what to do with Fiyero, nor can I quite decipher what he meant by coming with me, but to find out? I'd have to ask him, and I don't know if I'm capable.

But we're slowing down, and his hand is still closed over my wrist, but he's no longer pulling. No, no, we can't stop, they'll catch me-- but before I can register that we have, he's already facing me, looking directly into my face, right into my very soul... he gives me a look that brings tears to my eyes, and suddenly I realize I don't _need_ to ask him, I already know. I know _exactly_ why he came with me, and I am struck with the fact that I know _exactly_ why I went with him, even though I hadn't really questioned my own action at all, hadn't even acknowledged it until this very moment. He reaches out and brushes a strand of hair out of my face, and at the feel of his skin against my temple I close my eyes for the briefest instant, and when I open them again, my heart stops and races at the same time at his expression, though I don't know how this is possible, it's such a paradox, but he's kissing me, and nobody's _ever_ kissed me before, and he's so warm, and I can't possibly stay standing--

--but he catches me, and gently helps me to the ground so that we are on our knees facing each other. He whispers to me, asks me what I'm thinking, and I melt at the fond half-smile he's giving me, and I'm not sure where it's coming from, but I'm suddenly talking to him, spilling out before him the soul I barely knew I had until today, until right now. I tell him about my disbelief, I tell him I never before allowed myself to even imagine this, I tell him that I'll do everything in my power to just stay here with him, to make this last as long as I can. He watches me with tenderness written all over his face, tenderness mingled with the same unspoken pain and longing that I can feel in the knowledge that this could well be the only time we have. When I can't say anything else, he reaches for me again, and this time I reach for him too, and we fit against one another so perfectly and his mouth is so warm and soft against mine... and an eternity later, far too soon, he pulls back from me, and what's this feeling? I've never felt _anything_ like that, this emptiness when he lets go of me... but it's all right, because now he's whispering back to me, and we're so alike.

He can't believe he's found me, he can't believe we're here together either. He's been searching for me for so _long_, and he loves me, he really _loves_ me, and I can feel the tears in my eyes, I don't know where it's been hiding in me all these years, but I'm struck again, forcefully, by how much I love him. He leans in to kiss me again, but suddenly I'm hit by a sensation I can't quite describe and I stop him. He asks me what's wrong, genuine concern in his face, and I laugh quietly at myself and shake my head. I struggle to tell him for a moment, as he watches me worriedly, and then suddenly it hits me, and I smile. And with my whispered "_wicked", _his face breaks into a smile too, and we lose ourselves to one another.


End file.
